Workiva Inc. Class A

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Workiva's Q4 2025 earnings call. My name is Bailey, and I will be your host operator on this call. After the prepared comments, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time. Please note that this call is being recorded on February 19, 2026, at 5 p.m. ET. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today's call. Katie White, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Workiva's Q4 2025 conference call. During today's call, we will review our fourth quarter and full year 2025 results and discuss our guidance for the first quarter and full year 2026. Today's call will include comments from our Chief Executive Officer, Julie Isco, followed by our Chief Financial Officer, Barbara Larson. We will then open up the call for a Q&A session. After market closed today, we issued a press release, which is available on our Investor Relations website, along with our quarterly investor presentation. This conference call is being webcast live, and following the call, an audio replay will be available on our website. During today's call, we will be making forward-looking statements regarding future events and financial performance, including guidance for the first quarter and full fiscal year 2026. These forward-looking statements are based on our assumptions as to the macroeconomic, political, and regulatory environment as of today reflect our best judgment based on factors currently known to us, and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Workiva cautions that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. We undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements. If the call is reviewed after today, the information presented during this call may not contain current or accurate information. Please refer to the company's annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the SEC for factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking statements. Also, during the course of today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of GAAP and non-GAAP measures are included in today's press release. With that, we'll begin by turning the call over to Workiva's CEO, Julie Isco.

Thank you, Katie, and thank you all for joining us. We closed 2025 with strong momentum. We delivered another guidance feed that reaffirms our position as a trusted platform in the office of the CFO. Our Q4 subscription revenue grew 21% and total revenue grew 20%. both compared to Q4 of 2024. For the full year 2025, we achieved 22% subscription revenue growth and 20% total revenue growth, well ahead of the guidance that we had set at the beginning of the fiscal year. We also delivered profitable growth. We had another quarter of accelerating margin improvement with a Q4 non-GAAP operating margin of 19%. This was a 160 basis point beat on the high end of the guide and a 1,170 basis point improvement compared to Q4 of 2024. For the full year 2025, we delivered meaningful progress towards our 2027 medium-term model targets. Our non-gap operating margin was just shy of 10%. This is 440 basis points above the guidance that we had set at the beginning of 2025 and 560 basis points above full year 2024. Our Q4 momentum reflected broad-based durable demand across our AI-powered platform. It also reflected our customers' deepening commitment to Workiva as they transform how work gets done and how their most critical financial and non-financial data is managed. Before I move into a few deal examples from the quarter, I'd like to address a broader narrative that's dominating conversations in the SaaS market. There's an emerging view that as AI changes how work gets done, traditional SaaS platforms become significantly less valuable, and in some cases, obsolete. We understand that perspective. Many workflow tools that organize tasks, route information, or summarize activity can increasingly be automated or agentized. However, this is not the category Workiva operates in. We operate where data needs to be trusted, traceable, defensible, and audit-ready. In an AI-driven world, what matters most to a CFO is an automation. It's confidence in their data. And as reliance on AI increases, trust in that data becomes even more critical, not less. CFOs and finance leaders and risk teams don't just need answers faster. They need answers that they can stand behind with confidence. They need data accuracy, data consistency, data integrity, and data traceability. They need to be able to explain and defend any number at any point in time. That's where Workiva is fundamentally different. We're not just a series of workflows that can be automated or AI'd away. We're a trusted platform where data is controlled, connected, auditable, and governed by design. Every number, every narrative, and every change is traceable with full lineage and accountability. And more importantly, AI doesn't replace this foundation. It depends on it. And that's why, as AI adoption increases, we believe Workiva becomes even more relevant, not less. Customers in the office of the CFO are choosing Workiva's platform because we're not just another app in the stack. Over the past decade and a half, we've become not just a system of record, but an essential and trusted system of record. A system of truth. In an era of AI, our customers need intelligence that they can trust within a platform and in an environment where accuracy, accountability, and assurance are non-negotiable. Workiva is just that, a platform of trust. Let's now look at a few specific examples from Q4 that demonstrate how our platform is winning in the market and helping our customers solve their most complex reporting challenges. First, a global FinTech and insurance brokerage firm has joined as a new platform customer, purchasing five solutions, including controls management, global statutory reporting, management reporting, policies and procedures, and SEC reporting. This mid-six-figure deal is part of a finance transformation project focused on eliminating manual workflows and addressing reporting inefficiencies. The deal was a co-sell and will be implemented by a Big Four firm. Second, a large regional bank and mortgage originator in the U.S., signed a mid-six-figure account expansion deal. A loyal customer for 13 years, this bank increased its annual spend with Workiva by over 150% by adding bank reporting, controls management, management reporting, SEC, and carbon and sustainability reporting. This deal was a co-sell with a technology platform partner. And third, a UK-based global pharmaceutical leader who has been a Workiva sustainability reporting customer since 2017 signed a mid-six-figure expansion deal, adding controls management, ESEF, and SEC reporting. This investment was made to significantly mitigate reporting risk and drive enterprise-wide efficiency. It included modernizing a manual reporting process involving over 200 collaborators. The deal was sourced and will be implemented by a Big Four firm. While we're winning larger platform deals, our financial reporting-specific solutions also continue to show strong momentum. I'd like to highlight a few of our Q4 deals. First, a global transportation and mobility leader, who's been a loyal customer for eight years, nearly tripled their annual spend through a mid six figure expansion for multi-entity reporting. The business driver for this deal was a critical need to move their complex global entity structure away from high risk manual processes towards automated compliance. The advanced AI capabilities of the Workiva platform was a competitive differentiator in this opportunity. The deal was a co-sell and will be delivered by a big four firm. Second, a European-based global design and consultancy firm landed as a new customer with a multi-six-figure deal for multi-entity reporting. The primary driver for this deal was to streamline complex reporting across their global subsidiaries. This was a competitive win against a global provider of tax technology and other legacy systems. The deal was a co-sell with a regional technology partner. Third, we signed a multi-six-figure new logo deal for multi-entity and SEC reporting with a Brazilian industrial conglomerate and investment holding company. As a conglomerate, this business holds varying stakes in its companies, ranging from 100% ownership to minority interest. They operate in 19 countries, manage a hybrid of private and public reporting, and must comply with multiple accounting standards, all of which lead to significant complexity in financial reporting. The deal was sourced and will be implemented by a Big Four firm. I'll move on now to highlight two deals in one of our vertical specific solution categories, financial services. First, a global financial services provider offering fund administration signed a seven-figure account expansion deal for fund reporting. This was an eightfold increase in spend. This customer started with Workiva in December of 2024 with a small set of funds on the Workiva platform. The deal expands the Workiva solution firm-wide as they transform their investment reporting processes and transition from manual processes supported by Microsoft Office. The deal was sourced and will be implemented by a regional advisory partner. Second, a U.S.-based professional services consulting firm landed as a new customer with a high six-figure deal for fund reporting, controls management, and tailored shareholder reporting. The driver behind this deal was to provide the firm with greater control over filings, enable faster turnaround for their customers, and eliminate their dependency on dated solutions from their financial printers. The deal was a co-sell and will be implemented by a regional advisory partner. We also continue to see strong momentum with GRC. I'll highlight a few of our Q4 account expansions. First, a top five Canadian bank signed a mid-six-figure expansion deal for Controls Management. A Workiva Sustainability Reporting customer since 2024, this firm more than doubled their spend with us with this expansion. The goal was to replace a legacy GRC platform to manage their SOX processes. Management of SOX at a bank of this size involves up to 3,500 tested controls and a complex set of reporting requirements. This deal was sourced and will be implemented by a big floor firm. Second, we landed a multi-six-figure account expansion deal with a US-based industrial technology company for audit management, compliance management, and policies and procedures. The driver of this deal was the streamlining of policies, internal audit, and user access reviews. This was a competitive win over an enterprise SaaS platform provider. The deal was a co-sell with a global advisory and regional technology firm. And third, a European-based medical supply company purchased a multi-six-figure account expansion for three GRC solutions, including audit management, controls management, and operational risk management. This company started as an SEC reporting customer back in 2021. This account expansion has nearly tripled their spend with Workiva. This was a competitive win over a GRC platform provider, and it involved the migration of an ERP-based GRC solution. The deal was a co-sell and will be implemented by a Tier 2 accounting firm. I'll turn now to sustainability. Last year, we saw the market navigate a changing political and regulatory landscape. As we've highlighted in past calls, we did see demand for sustainability reporting moderate in 2025 when compared to 2024 highs. As we look forward to 2026 and beyond, we remain optimistic on the strategic value of this market and our strong competitive position to drive growth. We see companies moving forward with more purpose now as they've gained greater clarity on the scope and the timeline of regulations. Here are a few sustainability deal highlights from the quarter. First, a top five global commercial real estate services and investment firm signed a mid six-figure expansion deal for sustainability reporting and policies and procedures. This company is navigating several major global regulatory shifts that transitioned from voluntary to mandatory in the last 24 months, including the CSRD, the Australian Mandatory Disclosures, and plans for the upcoming California Climate Disclosure Rules. This company is also committed to being net zero by 2040 and is strictly governed by the Science-Based Target Initiative. Their targets include a 50% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and a 55% reduction in Scope 3 emissions intensity by 2030. This deal was a co-sale and will be implemented by a Big Four firm. Second, a global diversified industrial company signed a multi-six-figure account expansion for multi-entities sustainability reporting. This eight-year loyal SEC customer has complex sustainability reporting requirements as they operate in 130 countries and across multiple business units, including energy, automotive, agriculture, mobility, and data centers. The sustainability reporting drivers behind this deal include compliance with the CSRD, support for ratings reporting to MSCI and S&P Global, and the upcoming State of California climate disclosure. The deal was a co-sell and will be implemented by a regional advisory firm. And third, A European-based manufacturing company landed as a new customer with a multi-six-figure deal that included sustainability reporting and Workiva Carbon. The company's sustainability reporting requirements are for an end-to-end sustainability data management platform to streamline CSRD compliance, reduce manual workload, and enhance reporting accuracy. This is a replacement for an existing GRC tool that they were using to muscle through their first year of CSRD compliance. The deal was a co-sell and will be implemented by a regional advisory firm. To conclude our solution section, let's look at the capital markets landscape. Q4 IPO activity was more measured compared to the uptick seen in Q3. We believe that this was influenced by the timing of the government shutdown. Workiva still remained a key partner in this space. We successfully supported high-profile listings, and customers continued to purchase our S1 solution as part of their listing preparation process. Despite a tempered market, we continue to see healthy demand from private companies maturing their processes in anticipation of an IPO opportunity over the next 18 months. We believe a robust backlog of companies is waiting for the right conditions, and we stand ready to support them with our AI-powered platform and our purpose-built solutions. Now, before I move on to talking about our innovation, I'd like to remind you that Workiva does not have a seat-based licensing model. we've been pricing on value metrics and consumption for many years. Whether it's a customer's AI agent or a human, we charge based on volume and usage, not on who or what is interacting with the platform. As I mentioned earlier in my remarks, Workiva operates where accuracy, defensibility, and accountability are required, making our platform even more relevant in an AI-driven world. Our relevancy is critical, of course, but so is using AI to both build, innovate, and execute with speed and to ensure our customers have high impact, differentiating AI in our platform to do their most important work. Unlike other companies who are simply bolting on AI, Workiva's AI capabilities are architected directly into the core of our platform. Customer adoption of our AI capabilities continues to grow, and we've accelerated the pace of AI product innovation. This quarter, we delivered several high-impact enhancements across the platform. First, we launched an AI-powered capability that analyzes queries and manages data directly within the Workiva platform. Customers are now empowered to leverage AI across their data, queries, and tables to accelerate data preparation and surface insights. Second, we're embedding and scaling additional AI capabilities across our GRC solutions. Newly launched capabilities enable users to automatically ingest, analyze, and validate supporting documentation, or in GRC terms, evidence, for audit, risk, and compliance processes. This transforms manual, document-intensive tasks into an automated, insights-driven process within a secure, centralized environment. And finally, we continue to expand AI capabilities across financial reporting. Since AI is already embedded into the Workiva platform, no add-ins or plug-ins are required. For financial reporting, newly launched AI capabilities can be used to generate narrative insights and summaries for reports, get explanations of data and formulas through natural language interactions, and leverage strong conversational querying, explanation, and reasoning over data context and logic. All of these platform capabilities have the potential to drive meaningful impact across all of our financial reporting solutions. The market is moving fast on AI, and so are we. Again, as AI adoption accelerates, the demand for trusted, connected data will only grow. We believe this shift is a durable, long-term tailwind for Workiva. As we roll into 2026, we do so with a few new players on the Workiva leadership team. In Q4, we announced three new additions, including Michael Pinto, who joined us in November as our new Chief Revenue Officer. As discussed on our Q3 call, Michael oversees Workiva's global sales, partnerships and alliances, and commercial operations. Second, Deepak Bharadwaj joined us in December as our new Chief Product Officer. Deepak most recently served as Head of Product Management for Adobe's Document Cloud, where he led the launch of Acrobat Studio, an AI-driven productivity and creativity hub. Before Adobe, he spent several years at ServiceNow, where he played a key role as a general manager in launching and scaling their successful employee experience platform. And finally, Barbara Larson joined us in January as Workiva's new CFO. Barbara brings more than 20 years of experience in various finance leadership roles, scaling high-growth public software companies. Most recently, she served as CFO of SentinelOne. Prior to that, she spent a decade in finance at Workday, including serving as their CFO. We are thrilled to have her on our team. Barbara is on the call today, and she'll join us in a few moments to provide a detailed review of our financial performance. In addition to these new executives, in the last week of January, we appointed two new members to our board of directors. We announced that former Cisco and Autodesk CFO Scott Herron and former Workday co-president, CFO and EVP Mark Peek will both be joining the Workiva board in the coming months. Scott and Mark both bring deep expertise in transforming and scaling high-growth public technology companies. They also have extensive experience strengthening financial discipline, and driving operational excellence. 2025 was a year of strong growth, operational resilience, and meaningful performance improvement. I want to thank our employees for their unwavering commitment and their execution. In a volatile market environment, we remained focused on delivering value for our customers. We exited 2025 as a different company than we entered it. we are stronger, more disciplined, and more agile. This progress positions us well to enter 2026 with momentum and confidence. Our continued innovation, durable growth, expanding profitability, and sustained relevance all reinforce our position as a leading public software company serving the office of the CFO. And with that, I'd like to give a warm welcome to Barbara Larson. She'll walk you through our financial results in more detail and our 2026 guidance. Over to you, Barbara.